The General
by gyver21
Summary: Oneshot. Inspired by the Dispatch song "General". Forty years after "Chosen", Xander once again prepares for battle. But when the PTB send a messenger into his dreams, how will it affect the war?


Disclaimer: All items, characters, and/or ideas that reference of resemble anything from Buffy the Vampire Slayer belong to Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon.

Xander looked down at the stack of intelligence reports, medical updates, troop movement, and supply requests spread out across the field desk and sighed. Times like this made him miss Giles and Willow even more. It wasn't easy being the last surviving Scooby. The most important people in his life were gone, most of them for a long time now. He still couldn't believe that this month actually made it forty years since they had changed the rules, and empowered hundreds of girls the world over to fight the darkness alongside them. Everything had changed that spring, from losing his first true love, to transforming their group from the only fighters in a guerrilla style unit into the leaders of an army of Slayers.

Now, after dozens of apocalypses, hundreds of battles, more slain demons then he could count, and a Slayer Civil War (that had been interesting), he found himself as the last remaining Sunnydalian. Along with the numerous Slayers they had lost over the decades, Willow had been the first Scooby to die, she had burnt her own body out with the magic she wielded so well. The spells sapped the nutrients from her blood, the strength from her bones. Traditional medicine couldn't help, because the problem was magical, but magic couldn't help, because the spells they tried to use contributed to the problem.

Giles, Dawn, and Faith all went down fighting, preventing apocalypse after apocalypse. Giles and Dawn both fell before a tidal wave of vampires that had banded together in an attempt to bring forth a Mexican Blood God. Faith threw herself into the Cleveland Hellmouth, keeping the beasts inside back, so their mystics could have time to reseal it.

The two most surprising though, were Andrew and Buffy. Andrew had been with them for nearly twelve years, when a battle against a demon clan had gone badly. Five Slayers, all injured and unconscious, and Andrew. He called for reinforcements, then drew the clan into an old bomb shelter, keeping them contained, with him. He died every bit the hero that no one ever thought he would be.

Buffy, on the other hand, truly made history. Buffy Summers, the last true and singular Chosen One, was also the first Vampire Slayer in history to die of natural causes. She succumbed to bone cancer four years ago, after suffering for nearly a year. Xander was glad to see her finally at rest. He wondered when the next time a Slayer would reach their fifties. He hoped that now all of them would have that chance.

Xander shook himself out of his reverie, noticing that his trip down memory lane had taken nearly two hours. He decided that the rest of the paperwork could wait until tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow morning was going to be crazy, and he wasn't as young as he used to be. He needed sleep.

As he left the command tent and headed for his own, Xander reflected on their current war. Every now and again through the years, the forces of evil had tried a different track than the usual spring apocalypse, and gone for war instead. This one had been especially brutal. A large army of demons had banded together. They decided that once they had helped each other kill all the forces of good, they could then go back to business as usual afterward, this time unhindered. So Xander had pulled all the teams of Slayers from around the world, as well as calling in every friend, ally, and person that owed them a favor, to form his own army. Now they had been fighting in the desert for the last thirty days, neither side gaining advantage.

Tomorrow morning they would try again. He had gotten word that the enemy was planning an early morning push, losing out on their vampire force, but hoping to catch the Slayer army off its guard by attacking at such an unusual time. So with the new intelligence Xander had sent most of the army to sleep early, only keeping a skeleton crew awake for guard duty.

As he walked into his tent, Xander arched his back, stretching achy muscles, and cracking his back at the same time. A lifetime of injuries was beginning to weigh on the one time carpenter, and sleeping on a cot in the middle of the desert did not help. He pulled off his tee-shirt, General he may be, but they never created any uniforms, much to Andrew's dismay. Xander scratched the thick beard he sported as he went over to the small sink in the corner of his tent. He had never wanted a big full beard, but after an incident where he was nearly sacrificed to Janus, god of chaos, he needed to cover the scars left from the ritual markings that had been carved into his cheeks.

After washing his hands and face, Xander climbed into what was graciously referred to as a bed. It wasn't long before he was fast asleep.

That's when things got weird.

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Xander opened his eye, and found himself in his townhouse in Cleveland. Strange, especially since he had sold it ten years ago, when he moved to London to take over as head of the organization. Walking down the hall, he stopped to peek in the mirror. Sure enough, his chin and cheeks were nice and smooth, unblemished by hair or scars.

He was cautiously descending the stairs when he heard voices. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but there were definitely three women, in the kitchen. He silently made his way to the bottom of the stairs and stopped, listening again, peering towards the kitchen door, waiting to see if it would open.

"Xander." Xander jumped a foot in the air, and spun around to face his intruder, only to see that it wasn't an intruder.

"Willow? What are you doing here? No, wait, better question, what the hell am I doing here?! I have a battle to fight in the morning! In Africa! This isn't Africa, and this isn't the nice nights rest I had planned!" Xander hissed at his best friend. Part of his mind registered that it didn't faze him in the least that he was conversing with a friend who had been dead for thirty years.

"The battle's why they let us come to you." Xander jumped again, Willow hadn't answered him, Buffy had come up behind him from the kitchen and answered. " There's important information that you need. It'll affect what you do."

"Hey Buff. Looking good for a dead woman." Xander paused and looked at Willow. "Both of you are actually. Any other time and this would be the beginning of an amazing dream."

"You have no idea how amazing it would be Boytoy." Xander didn't bother to jump this time, just slowly turned around to look at Faith. Faith smirked at him. "Between me, Red, and B, we would rock your universe big man."

"Faith, focus. We're here for a reason, remember?" Buffy tried to rein in her wilder counterpart.

"But B," Faith whined, "It's been so long since I've been able to play." Faith finished with a pout that would melt any guys heart. Buffy refused to budge though.

"They only let us come to deliver a message, not to get your jollies off." Buffy told her sternly. Xander raised his hand to get everyone's attention.

"I have a question." He said calmly. Once the three girls were looking at him he continued. "How do I know you three aren't just a distraction planted in my head by the enemy?" Willow snorted.

"Because if the enemy could get this deep into your subconscious, through all the wards and magical barriers you have in place around your field base, then you'd be dead already." The red-headed witch said with authority. "Anyone that powerful wouldn't need to resort to mind tricks."

Xander nodded, that made sense, plus every alarm in the camp would be going by now if they had psychic intrusion. That meant this was either the Powers that Be, or the Senior Partners. "What is the true currency of life?" He asked. This was the true test, they had discovered years ago that when dealing with the higher ups, you asked this question of their emissaries. Regardless of who they looked like they would always answer the same way. The Powers said wisdom, and the Partners said power. They couldn't deceive you on this question, the way they had the world figured, there was no other answer that anyone would give but their own.

"Wisdom." The three girls immediately said. Xander relaxed considerably.

"OK then, what's the message? What's going on?" He asked, then started toward the living room to sit down. The girls followed, and Buffy started to explain.

"This attack they're planning tomorrow, you didn't get all the info, only what they intentionally leaked to you. They... well, lets back up, because there's a lot you don't know from where you are."

"What else is new?" Xander quipped, only to get smacked in the back of the head by Willow. "Ow, hey!"

"Serves you right! You know lots of stuff, and you've managed to effectively lead your army for the last month, not to mention running the organization for years before that! So no putting yourself down. You don't know this stuff because only the three demons in charge of the enemy force know it, so you can't. We only do because we can see it from up here." Willow said firmly, with her resolve face on.

"OK, so what is it I don't know?" Xander asked.

"That you're gettin' played Boytoy. The ol' Bitch is playing Puppet Master to your rival army." The old Bitch was the Scooby name for the First Evil. The name originated when a group of visiting Witch Doctors were marveling at their victory of the First when Dawn said: "What, that Old Bitch? She was nothing." And it stuck.

"The First is running the show? That explains how so many species that would normally hack each other up are work collaboratively." Xander said.

"Apparently she's been planning this since last time. She was just waiting for the right time, and after I died, she started setting things in motion. She thought with most of the Scoobies gone, she'd have an easy time of it. Course, she underestimated how big a pain in the ass you can be." Buffy said with a smile for Xander.

"Well, I do try." He responded with his own grin.

"Yeah, but you did too well this time. Which is why we're here." Willow said. "Since she couldn't beat you in open combat, she set up tomorrow as a trap for you."

"What's she gonna do?"

"Every demon she's throwing at you tomorrow is rigged to blow up." Faith explained

"When we kill them?" The girls shook their heads.

"No, they'll all blow at once, dead or alive, about fifteen or twenty minutes into the fight. That way they'll be thoroughly mixed in with you guys."

"If they're sending as many as it says in the reports, that's a sizable chunk of their army." Xander commented.

"How many Slayers are you holding back?" Buffy responded. "This entire army was created solely to take out as many of you as possible. It doesn't matter if she loses eighty percent of her force if she decimates yours beyond repair."

"True enough." Xander agreed. "But what do I do? If we don't meet them, they'll just come to us in camp." He reasoned.

"You got it X." Faith said. "But we can't make this call for you. Against the rules. 'Explain, don't advise.' They told us." Faith said with some bitterness.

"Alright." Xander said. "Thanks for the heads up guys. It's great to see you again. How much time do we have." The girls all bowed their heads.

"Sorry X, but it's time to get up." Faith said sadly.

"But I just went to sleep!" Xander exclaimed as the room, furniture, and even the girls themselves started to fade away.

"Different plane, different time rules Xan." Buffy said. "Big things are starting, and you need to decide." Everything was nearly gone now, and Xander could barely make out the last thing Willow said. "Don't worry. We'll have all the time in existence once you join us. We can catch up then." She smiled at him as she finished fading entirely. Xander took a deep breath...

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...And woke up in his cot, in the desert.

Xander jumped out of bed and ran to his tent flap. Looking out he saw that it was still dark, predawn colors just beginning to touch the eastern horizon. He still had about an hour before meeting his Slayers to head out. Plenty of time to think of a plan.

Thirty seconds later he knew what to do.

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The Slayers were all lined up in formation in order of seniority. The most experienced in the front, back to the newest girls at the back. The long term affects of the spell originally gave every new potential born the Slayer abilities at puberty, but Willow and the Coven were able to adjust that to seventeen years old. So the formation went more or less oldest to youngest, with the front line in their thirties.

The girls were all wearing whatever was most comfortable for them to fight in, some in yoga clothes, some in leather, some in dresses. One girl from Mozambique was in a homemade skirt and sports bra (it had taken some work to get her to wear the sports bra). They all carried their weapons of choice, swords, axes, quarterstaffs, long bows, cross bows, even a bat'leth. All the weapons regardless of type were clean and polished. They were strong. They were fearless. They were ready.

They were waiting for the General.

They all loved the General. He was kind hearted and seemed to genuinely care about every girl under his command. He made sure to learn everyone's names, and make sure they had everything they need. Most nights he made up a small fire in camp with plenty of chocolate and marshmallows for everyone, then he'd just sit there and tell stories of the past battles he's been part of, and of the legends of his time, like Willow Rosenberg, Faith Lehane, and especially Buffy Summers. Overall, Xander was much beloved.

Which is why they were worried that not only had he not been here before them like usual, he was ten minutes late at least. They hadn't seen him yet.

Just as some of the younger girls were thinking about going to look for him, he walked up the hill towards them. They were all shocked when they got a good look at him. He had shaved off his beard and mustache, showing his scars. In case they weren't clear enough, he had painted every scar with blue war paint. Instead of his regular eye patch (which had an eye painted on it) he had on one made entirely of demon hide leather, with a nasty looking spike jutting out of the middle, a painful surprise for anyone he head butts or that's dumb enough to punch the right side of his face. Instead of the usual jeans, sneakers, bowling shirt combo he normally wore, he was wearing black cargo pants, combat boots, and a black wife beater, with two katanas strapped to his back, a dagger strapped to his hip, a war axe looped in his belt, and Andrew's 'Wolverine specials'. These were sheaths, spring loaded and wrist mounted, with three daggers in each. When triggered they resembled the claws of Andrew's favorite comic book mutant. Both nerdy and devastatingly effective at eviscerating demons. All in all the ensemble made Xander look every bit as deadly as the legends he had worked with in years past. The girls were suitably impressed with the warrior about to lead them into battle, and stood a little straighter as he stepped up to address them.

"Good morning." Xander began. "We all know why we're here right now. There's a large portion of the enemy forces making their way towards us, and it was our plan to go forward and meet them head on." Xander paused here for a moment, reflecting on what he had learned during his sleep last night. "Last night, I was sent a message from some old friends. I have seen what they have planned for us. This is not a battle that we want to fight. If we do, a majority of us will die." The girls gasped at the finality of the statement, it wasn't concern, it was fact. "The problem is that if no one goes to meet them, they'll just come to us, with the same result.

"So I've made a decision. I hereby order this camp broken down, this army disbanded, and the individual groups of Slayers returned to their primary locations." He held up his hand against the outcry from the girls. "I don't do this often, but I am making this a command decision, which means it carries the weight of the entire organization behind it. Failure to obey will result in disciplinary action being taken." Xander said severely. Then he softened. "You're all so young. I want every one of you to have the chance to live a long life, so go, take a shower, and live your lives to the fullest. I will go and keep the demons back long enough for you to break camp and bug out. Go, now."

The Slayers stood for a moment, saying nothing, just waiting for something to happen. Finally Hannah, the oldest Slayer in the formation at 34, pulled a stake out of her belt, threw it point down into the dirt in front of her, then turned and walked back to camp. One by one each girl threw a stake into the ground and walked away. Once every one had left, Xander looked at the stakes, which had formed a giant 'X' in the ground. He turned and walked away, towards the approaching cloud of dust, which signified the demon army.

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Xander walked about ten miles out, the approaching army was only a few miles away now, and stopped to wait for them. They had none of the structured discipline of the Slayer army, they all came at their own pace, got into scuffles with each other, stopped for reasons known only to themselves. It was a writhing, chaotic mob of death. Xander pulled out his swords and got ready, it would only be a few minutes now.

"Xander."

'What a curious case of deja vu.' Xander thought as spun around, instinctively lashing out with a sword. Fortunately his visitor was out of range.

"Anya?! You're supposed to be dead!" But here she was in the flesh, looking exactly as she had when she had died. "Am I hallucinating?" He wondered.

"No, I'm actually here. When I died, apparently I still owed D'hoffryn two hundred years as a Vengeance demon. I negotiated an extra fifty years of service if he let me keep my soul. So I have another two hundred and ten years, then I'll be allowed to rest." Anya explained to her former fiance.

"I've missed you so much. Why didn't you ever come see me?" He asked her.

"Couldn't. Part of the new contract was no fraternization. You cost him his best agent twice, and with the soul I'm not nearly as effective. He quite dislikes you." Anya explained to him.

"Then how are you here now? He's not gonna punish you is he?" Xander loved seeing her, but didn't want her to get in trouble. He was also keeping an eye on the approaching crowd, they may have to cut this reunion short.

"Oh, I'm allowed to be here. I'm working, not fraternizing. One of your Slayers made a wish; 'I wish that Xander had enough power to make those demons regret attacking.' So I'm doing my job." She said happily.

"What's the twist going to be, and which of my girls counts as 'scorned'?" Xander asked.

"I've expanded past the 'scorned' niche, and no twist, this time." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "I may be bending the rules just a bit on this one, but what is he going to do, fire me?"

"OK, how do we begin?" Xander asked, only to be attacked by Anya. She latched her lips onto his mouth in a fierce kiss that managed to convey all the longing and lust she had felt for him over the past sixty years. As they kissed he felt strength, and energy flow into him.

Once the kiss broke off, Xander felt as good as he ever had. And the aches and pains were gone, he felt stronger then ever, and his senses were sharper as well. "I feel great." He said to her.

Anya smiled at him. "Good," she said. "Go give them hell. I'll see you in a few centuries." With that she vanished. Xander looked at the spot she'd been in for a long moment, then a roar redirected his attention back to the mob at hand. He turned towards them with a grin.

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Xander felt that he was doing well, he had mowed a good swath of destruction through the group. He had lost both swords at some point, he refused to stop moving, and if a weapon got stuck in a demon, he left it and moved on. His speed, reflexes, everything had been increased to at least Slayer level, and when you combine that with a mind that had been fighting demons for nearly half a century, it became a deadly combination. The demons couldn't believe that they were losing so badly against one single human.

Xander dropped the hilt of his dagger, the blade had snapped off inside a Z'thon'flox demon, a creature with an acidic slime layer coating his skin. Even as he dropped it, the hilt was dissolving. He turn and threw his war axe at another large demon, it lodged into his skull. Out of traditional weapons, Xander triggered the 'Wolverine Special's' and dove into the thickest concentration of demons with wild abandon. Three minutes later the local area became hot enough to melt the sand into glass as thousands of demons simultaneously exploded. The magnitude of the blast was felt ten miles away at the Slayer base as the girls worked to break down. More then one face was wet with tears as the ground shook beneath their feet.

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Xander awoke in the Sunnydale High student lounge. First thing he noticed was that he had both his eyes. In fact he had the body he'd had at twenty years old. Standing up, he knew right where he needed to go.

Pushing open the doors to the library, he was met with enthusiastic cheering.

"Well done Boytoy, knew you had it in you." Faith said as he walked over and joined them at the main table.

"Thanks Faith, couldn't've done it without the warning you guys brought me though." He gave her a hug, then turned and gave one to Buffy and Willow too. A hand on his shoulder revealed that Giles had walked up behind him. "Great to see you G-man, I've missed you." Xander said as he pulled the older man into an embrace.

"And I you, Xander." Giles responded. Xander released him and said hello to Dawn and Tara, who were waiting for their turn for hugs. After everyone had been greeted, Xander looked around.

"So why are we in the school Library?" Xander asked.

"Apparently, it all our happiest place." Buffy said. "It's our heaven. I didn't think it would be the library though."

Xander thought about it for a long moment before shaking his head. "I don't think it's the Library that's our happy place... except maybe Willow and Giles." He said with a meaningful look at the two geniuses in the room. " I think it's each other. We're happiest together as a group." They all thought about that for a moment.

Finally Willow spoke up, "well, if that's the case, then we're gonna have a fantastic eternity."

As he sat back in his usual chair and put his feet up on the desk, Xander had to admit that was perfectly true.

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Dispatch's The General

_there was a decorated general with a heart of gold, that likened him to all the stories he told of past battles, won and lost, and legends of old a seasoned veteran in his own time_

_on the battlefield, he gained respectful fame with many medals of bravery and stripes to his name he grew a beard as soon as he could to cover the scars on his face and always urged his men on_

_but on the eve of a great battle with the infantry in dream the old general tossed in his sleep and wrestled with its meaning he awoke from the night just to tell what he had seen and walked slowly out of his tent_

_all the men held tall with their chests in the air, with courage in their blood and a fire in their stare it was a gray morning and they all wondered how they would fare till the old general told them to go home_

_[CHORUS:] He said: I have seen the others and I have discovered that this fight is not worth fighting I have seen their mothers and I will no other to follow me where I'm going_

_So, take a shower, shine your shoes you got no time to lose you are young men you must be living Take a shower, shine your shoes you got no time to lose you are young men you must be living go now you are forgiven_

_but the men stood fast with their guns on their shoulders not knowing what to do with the contradicting orders the general said he would do his own duty but would extend it no further the men could go as they pleased_

_but not a man moved, their eyes gazed straight ahead till one by one they stepped back and not a word was said and the old general was left with his own words echoing in his head he then prepared to fight._


End file.
